Tuesday, August 22, 2006

During the 1990s the population along the The Front Range boomed. The Front Range as a whole added nearly a million people and grew by 30%. Some places like Greeley saw a faster rate but the other metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) all saw 30% growth. Well, except for Pueblo. Pueblso MSA only grew by 14%. Essentially they grew at the same rate as the rest of the nation.

Why didn't Pueblo experience the same kind of growth the the rest of the Front Range experienced? Are they not close enough to the mountains to have drawn in those technology companies? I wouldn't see why that would be a problem considering Greeley grew the fastest despite being the furthest from the mountains. And like Greeley, Pueblo has a 4 year college. The climate in Pueblo is a little nicer than places like Ft. Collins with it being further south, right? And Pueblo is in Colorado so it should more or less have the same type of laws and taxes that the rest of the Front Range has. Why has Pueblo, the old Pittsburgh of the West, not grown like the rest of the Front Range? Why has what was once the 2nd or 3rd most important city in the state 100 years ago fallen so far behind so many other cities?